Random Follow-Up

I had to wrap up the last post quickly, in order to catch the bus from school.  Since my Internet access is good again today, I wanted to post a follow-up, and cover some things that I didn't have time for yesterday.

First, about the frying pan.  Most nights I have stir-fry for dinner, so something to fry in is absolutely essential.  Can't go a day without it.  I was also out of rice, which made a trip to Carrefour last evening doubly imperative.

This time, I decided to ask a colleague for the name of a good brand of cookware.  I thought I'd get a wok this time, since I like to stir-fry Chinese style.  I asked a Chinese colleague whose English is very good (she has lived in Canada), and she told me a good brand, and wrote it down in English and Chinese.  When I went to Carrefour,I found a brand whose English name seemed similar, but not identical.  Looking at the Chinese characters she had written down, however, they seemed the same.  So, I bought a 3-piece set.  Wok, saucepan (with lid), and kettle (with lid and steam whistle).  The whole set cost only 149 yuan.  And last night, my dinner cooked up easier, tasted better, and cleaned up easier than ever before.  So much better with the right equipment!  (Sorry, no pics of wok or dinner.  Maybe next time.)

While I was at Carrefour, I saw some things that I found interesting.  Particularly, the meat they apparently had on special:

Poster Advertising Raw Chicken Feet

You can apparently buy chicken feet by the half-kg at Carrefour.  I can usually read Chinese prices, but I can't read that, so I can't tell you how much they cost.  My cookware consultant tells me that they are cooked delicately and eaten as snacks, like finger food while watching TV.  Who knew?  I thought they were just boiled in water to make stock.

Near the rice area, on the other hand, I found a product that is very common in the U.S.:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Apparently, olive oil is considered so pricey that it has some kind of anti-theft device on it.  But, with the exchange rate, that price is the equivalent of less than ten bucks.  Perhaps because it's so small.  These are half-liter bottles.  Not sure how much that would sell for in the U.S.

Well, I didn't buy the olive oil, because I wasn't planning any Italian food.  My peanut oil is great for stir-fry.  Dinner was tasty, as mentioned above, and I'm looking forward to making tea in the wintertime.

Knitting
Here is the latest picture, taken last night, of my brown cardigan:

Brown Cabled Cardigan with Shawl Collar

As you can see, I have finished picking up around the front.  I have also finished the lengthening short-row portion of the shawl collar, adapted from a pattern that my mother bought called Dark & Stormy.  (If you know my mom, you can e-mail her for details.)  Now, it's just K1P1 rib for 1.5", then do buttonholes, then rib for another 1.5".  The D&S pattern has a three-stitch, two-row buttonhole that is supposed to use buttons of about 1".  I would like to experiment with that type of buttonhole, but I'm afraid the required buttons might be a bit large for a man's cardigan.  (I'm going for the professor look.)  I think I will just go with the Jacqueline Fee approach, and use a YO K2tog buttonhole.

I'm still looking for a source for knitting needles and tools, and better yarn selection.  I will probably have to make friends with a Chinese girl who speaks English, and get her to help me.

Prayer Requests
I got paid today!  Praise God for a paid job, and also for helping me make it to payday with cash to spare.

On that note, please pray that God will help me manage my money wisely.  I have many things I want to spend it on, like a bike, Internet for my apartment, a mobile phone account, and many other things.  Someone from the school will probably help me set up a bank account, and Internet access.  However, I can't just live paycheck to paycheck, because I only have two weeks' work in July, and none in August.  I need to make it to the end of September, and I also have other expenses.

Also, please pray for God to reveal his will for me in the area of love and marriage.  One of my new friends at church, a German brother, met his wife here, and they have been married for two years.  Most Chinese girls are apparently under a fair bit of pressure to get a boyfriend and get married while they are still in their prime childbearing years.  I can see myself marrying a Chinese woman, but I definitely don't want to rush this.

That's about all.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying.  May God bless you.

Random Pictures

Well, it's been about a week since my last post, and since my Internet connection seems to be better today, I thought it would be a good idea to post a new entry.  I don't really have a great theme for this week, but I do have some pictures to share.  First, some of my students:

Grade 2 Oral English

Aren't they cute?  I had Grade 2 Oral English until their regular teacher came back from getting married in the U.S.  Didn't know quite what to do with them, but I asked them about themselves, played games like "I Spy", and took them to the library.

On my first Friday, we had a sports day.  After the first two classes, everyone got into two buses and went to the sports complex (more like an aquatic center).  They could choose from badminton, table tennis, or swimming.  Since I'm no good at ball sports, I chose to supervise swimming.  Basically I was an extra safety monitor for the kid's pool.  I don't have any pics of the kids swimming, but I do have one from the entrance to the locker rooms:

Chinese Locker Room Sign

Apparently, a picture of a lace-edged camisole means female, and a picture of a collared polo shirt means male.  Perfectly clear, no language skills necessary; and yet something somehow seems odd.  Oh, well, it's no stranger than a lot in China.

Take, for instance, this picture that I took the following Sunday.  It seems strange, and yet is perfectly reasonable when you think about it.

Clearly, this can be nothing but an e-bike rental vending machine; like a machine for renting luggage carts at the airport  They do not have these in the U.S., and so it seems strange.  In the U.S., however, most adults own their own cars, and most kids have bikes.  Electric-powered bikes are pretty rare.  Here, they are the most common form of transportation, and not very expensive.  There are mornings where I was running late, and wanted a faster mode of transportation.  If I could read Chinese, I might have been tempted to try this machine.

Some have asked, and probably more have wondered, about my school; what's it like?  Well, as far as the physical environment is concerned, the best way is to show you.  So, without further ado, here is Wuxi International School:

This hallway leads to the dining hall.

This is the playground.  I'm afraid it wouldn't pass code in California, but here it's perfectly fine.

This is the view out of the window.  The space shown is actually used by Wuxi No. 3 Senior High School, which, due to its greater size, uses more than half of the total campus.

Another view of the pond.  (On special days they turn on the fountains.)

In the distance, you can see the tower of International School of Wuxi, a neighboring school which is privately owned.

Walkway between halves of the campus.  We actually don't use this space, it's used by the public school. 

The next picture requires some explanation.  Breakfast cereals are very hard to find here, and granola seems absolutely nonexistent.  (Most Chinese eat rice for breakfast.)  Old-fashioned oats, however, are easy to find in bulk bins (and one of the few bulk items, besides rice, that I could readily identify).  They are easy to prepare in the rice cooker if you leave the lid open.  Plain oatmeal, however, is a little bland, so I add sugar and milk, which provides a nutritious and filling breakfast.

 

When my sugar ran out, of course, I had to get more.  However, I didn't want to be restricted to packages that were labeled in English.  So, I took the following picture of my empty sugar package:

I previewed the picture on my digital camera, to make sure the characters were clear.  Then, I took my camera with me when I went shopping (as I normally do everywhere in China).  The idea was, I would then be able to match the Chinese characters on the old label to characters on a new label or bulk bin sign.  This would keep me from buying salt by mistake.  Sure enough, the bottom three characters could be found on another package, at a much cheaper price.

The next day (this would be my third Saturday in China, for those of you who are keeping track), was the day I went to downtown Wuxi (mentioned in an earlier entry), learned about the fabric market, found buttons, a yarn store, and a well-attended church.  On my way to meet my colleagues, I decided to take the stairs.  I had been told that this particular stairwell led not to the lobby, but to the underground bomb shelter/parking garage.  I decided to explore, and I took my headlamp, just in case.  When I got there, I did indeed find the parking garage, and there I saw something most curious.  The lighting was very dim, but I managed to capture two flash-lit pictures:

Double-Decker Parking Lift

Six Parking Spaces; Three Up, Three Down

This device apparently doubles the number of parking spaces available.  I can't imagine how it would work if two spaces, one on top of the other, were rented by two different families.  If you had the top space, you'd always have to wait for the person below you to leave, and come in before they arrived.

After my colleagues and I got off the bus in downtown Wuxi, we had a bit of a walk to get to the fabric market.  They pointed out something which is apparently a fashion for couples in China:

Couple with Matching T-shirts

Apparently, some couples like to buy matching t-shirts, and wear them out in public, just so there's no mistake about whether they are actually a couple.  Not sure whether this is any indication of living arrangements.

As mentioned earlier, having learned about a church there which was reputed to have a service in English, and the next day being Sunday, I went to church.  The weather was poor, and I didn't want to treat the inside of the church like a tourist attraction, so I don't have any pictures of that day.  However, I do have something better.  One of the brothers there gave me his business card.  He works for a German company, at a manufacturing plant that I walk past every day on my way to school.  He invited me to some international fellowships that meet on Wednesday at the church, and on Thursday in private homes, all approved by the Chinese government.  I chose to go to both, and both were interesting and uplifting, although in very different ways.

The following weekend, of course, I did laundry again.  Since I'd been using them for two weeks, I decided it was time to wash my sheets.  This means I had to wash them first thing on Saturday morning, and hang them up to dry, immediately, to give them the best chance of drying by bedtime, since I don't have a dryer.  Other clothes had to be done on Sunday, and here we come to the picture you've all been waiting for, my clothesline:

Backpacking-Style Clothesline

Those of you who are conversant with such things may notice that it is made from military-grade paracord, and the line on the left is made of two lines twisted tightly together.  This is a technique that I learned while backpacking with Boy Scout Troop 58.  It allows me to hang socks and other garments by inserting the ends or corners between the plies.  This eliminates the need for clothespins, saving weight and space when packing.

The following Saturday (this brings us up to last weekend), one of my colleagues hosted a potluck to celebrate the marriage of two of our colleagues, K & A.  She had also recently adopted a pair of kittens, and so this was also a cause for celebration:

Rudy and Isis

Aren't they adorable?  And I didn't sneeze once while I was there.

Although I was up pretty late at the party (and walking home), I was able to make it to church on time; early, in fact.  The day was beautiful, not at all like last week.  I thought I'd get a few pictures for those of you who want to know what my church looks like:

Wuxi Protestant Church

This church belongs to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the official state-approved Christian church in the P.R.C.  In front of the church, you can see the rows of e-bikes parked in the yard.  There is also a newer clock tower:

And, there is also an engraved plaque describing the building's history.  The English translation is a little rough, but understandable:

Before the service, I was greeted by a Chinese brother who apparently knew some of the people in the international fellowship.  He had apparently taught himself English from books and CD's.  He treated me to lunch after the service, and we talked about some important things.

After lunch, I met Jedediah in the cultural square.  I also met his wife of two years, who is Chinese, and had learned German before they met.  She had business with some photography students, and so Jedediah and I sat and talked, and then went and got coffee, and talked some more.  Great guy.

After coffee, I took the bus home.  I was looking for a good bike store that I had seen before, but didn't see it.  However, I did see something odd on the bus.  With the bar in the way, I had to take two pictures to capture the whole sign:

I understand signs barring dogs and smoking, but what does the first icon mean?  "No suitcase bombs allowed"?  Do the really need a sign for that?

Notice that there is nothing about food and drink.  You are allowed to eat on the bus; however, if you make a mess, you must clean it up.  There is a broom, a mop, and a waste bin on the bus for that purpose.  I have seen a passenger use the last two after she dropped her food and was scolded by the driver.

And finally, a word about cheap cookware.  The first Sunday I was here, I bought the cheapest frying pan I could find at a grocery store, when I gave up looking for Carrefour.  The ersatz-nonstick coating wasn't nonstick, and, when scrubbed with the rough side of a sponge, it started to come off.  The steel underneath then started to rust.  I had the idea to scrub the rust off, then dry it with heat on the hot plate, then season it with oil to keep it from rusting further.  I should have known that would only work with cast iron.  Here is the result:

Can you see how the pan is deformed with heat?  No?  Well, then look at the underside, which also didn't stand up to a decent scrubbing:

Scorched, and the coating actually stuck to the hot plate a little bit.  (I think I got it all off.)  Worse, it stank.  I had to throw the pan out immediately.

Prayer Requests

Praise God for giving me the Internet access necessary to post this!  Also, praise God for the international fellowship at Wuxi Protestant Church.  All state-approved, safe, and legal.  I just have to be a good citizen, and I won't have any problems worshiping God and fellowshiping.

That's all I have time for.  Blessings to all.

Making Progress

Well, after two weeks in China, I've decided that my Internet connection is too unreliable to give daily reports, and a detailed weekly report would be much too long.  I also have some major news to report.  So instead, I'll just talk about some of my major accomplishments, and move on to the big news of the week.

Accomplishment Number One:  Thanks to a colleague named April, I learned about local Chinese market, a much cheaper alternative to Carrefour for many staples.  Great place if you like local color.  If you're OCD, however, you should probably steer clear.  I saw lots of things there, but, of particular visual interest were:

Pig's Feet

Yes, you really can buy pig's feet and cook them.  Also of interest:

Chicken & Eggs

Something I'd never even heard of buying: whole chickens with the immature eggs included.  I also saw regular brown eggs piled like oranges (Just pick some out, put them in a bag, pay by weight -- 8 large eggs cost about 5 RMB-- and carry them home very carefully.  I put mine in a plastic egg carton from Carrefour.) There are plenty of vegetables, both familiar and strange; fruits likewise; and fish both alive and dead.  Chickens are scrawny.  Fruit seems to be rather expensive, but veggies are pretty cheap.  Haven't bought any meat yet, except at the stir-fry fixings vendor.  Maybe more pics later.

Accomplishment Number Two:  I successfully did the laundry.  This is more challenging than it sounds when the control panel for your machine looks like this:

I got past this language barrier by taking the above picture, displaying it full-screen on my computer, and asking my Chinese teaching assistant to help me with a translation.  That was effective enough.  They apparently don't use warm water (only one hose to the machine), and there was no mention of a "gentle" cycle, although there was something labeled "jeans".  The translation, however, does help me figure things out.

Accomplishment Number Three:  I found a source for buttons and yarn.  Some of my colleagues go to the fabric market (Chinese "Hou Xi Xi") in downtown Wuxi (Chinese "Wuxao"), to buy fabric and have clothes custom-made.  I asked if they'd seen any buttons anywhere, and they said that such things could be found there.  So, I asked to tag along, and they were gracious enough to allow me to do so.  This trip showed me how to get to the "Wuxao" area, and at the fabric market I found people selling buttons, which I will need for the sweater I'm making.  Also, one of the saleswomen, on learning that I knit, showed me a yarn shop there!  (When I took out my project and started knitting, I became quite the sensation.  A white man, knitting!)  Also, while I was in the area, I found the most important place of all.  And now, for the big announcement:  (Drum roll please....)

I found a church!  My colleague  pointed it out on Saturday (not like I could miss it), and said that there was a translated service.  At that point, I felt duty bound to attempt to go there on Sunday.  Getting there on my own was a bit of an adventure (took the right bus number going the wrong direction, etc.), but when I got there, I found that the first service (very crowded) was just finishing.  Words cannot describe the joy I felt at finding that fellowship, and hearing the Doxology being sung in Chinese.  I wept with relief at finding a Christian fellowship here in China.  After the first service, I was directed to the main chapel, where I found a seat up front, and was in due course greeted by an English-speaking German brother named Jedediah, who assured me that it was an international fellowship and there would be translation.

I didn't realize how much I had missed the fellowship of believers until I found it there in downtown Wuxi.  I'm afraid I have no pictures of the church, but they do have a website.  I would love to go to the mid-week fellowship, but I'm afraid I might miss the last bus to take me home.  I'll have to do some research.  (P.S.:  Checking the local bus stop reveals that the 35 bus apparently runs past midnight on weekdays.  I'll try to confirm with my contacts.)

Knitting

Here's the latest picture of my brown cardigan:

This shows that I've joined the sleeves and started on the yoke.  Since then I've finished the yoke (left the collar stitches on the needle cable), grafted the sleeves (redid one of them because I tried grafting on the WS and didn't like how it looked), picked up and knit stitches from the right side, knit the top stitches, and started picking up stitches from the left side.  The light in my apartment is not great, and I don't want to buy a lamp until after payday, so in the evenings I use my headlamp to help me see the detail.  (P.S.  I am on my last ball of yarn, and it looks like I will have enough to finish the shawl collar.  Yarn quantity was right on.)

As mentioned above, I did find a source for buttons, and for yarn to make something new when my current projects are done.  Unfortunately, they don't speak much English, and the shop doesn't seem to sell tools or needles, only yarn.  Well, it's a start, and I'll keep looking.  There's got to be some place in Wuxi that sells crochet hooks.  But that's a minor issue.

Since it's almost time to go, and I don't know how long this connection will last, I'd better wrap things up.

Prayer Requests

First and most importantly, praise God for helping me find a fellowship in Wuxi!

Also, please pray for my Internet connection. Ability to access English-language sites (including Gmail and Blogger) seems to be more off than on. It'll be a minor miracle if I'm able to post this.

Blessings to all.  Thanks for praying.

First Day in China

*ANNOUNCER'S VOICE*  When last we saw our hero, he was in Seattle, about to board a plane bound for the Orient.  Since then, we've heard only a short signal to indicate that he was safe, but now we are getting word that he will be broadcasting a more detailed message.  Stay tuned.

First of all, I don't know quite where to begin.  The Korean Air flight from Seattle to Seoul was uneventful.  Better than Japan Airlines, but not quite as good as Singapore Air.  Still, nothing to complain about.

In Seoul, I had to go through a security screening again, even though I never left the international terminal.  I expected that, since the same thing happened in Tokyo the last time I flew internationally.  What I didn't expect was the very slow throughput at the checkpoint.  That, combined with the relatively short layover, didn't leave me any time to post from the Incheon airport, but I made it through OK.  They did confiscate my scissors in Incheon, which was OK, because that was an expendable pair that I carried on in case I needed them for my knitting project on the long flight.

On the flight from Seoul to Shanghai, I had to fill out an entry card, including my intended address in China.  Well, I didn't know the address.  The only thing I had was a DHL envelope from my school, with the origin address written in Chinese.  In desperation, I turned to the man sitting next to me, who was clearly Chinese, and I asked him to help me.  I explained my situation as well as I could, and he wrote the address for me from the envelope.  At customs, they asked about it, and I said I had a friend fill it out.  That was true enough, and it worked.  Thank God!

Near the airport exit was a teacher and driver holding up a very visible sign with my name on it.  The car ride took about two hours, but I had food and water, I was just really tired.  They wanted to go for a meal, but I had already eaten two dinners (once from SEA-ICN and once from ICN-PVG), and just needed to sleep, so they took me straight to my apartment.  This will be my home until further notice.  The following morning (Saturday), I woke up early, and was able to take some pictures before my 10:00 pickup.

This is what I see when I first come inside.

My kitchen.  It does have a hood, and the school also got me a rice cooker.

My kitchen table.  The shirt is hanging on the chair indicating that I had yet to purchase clothes hangers.  (Note the laptop podium that my dad helped me make.  It works well when I can use it, which is rarely.)

My desk and water cooler.   I have since moved the TV to the floor, making the desk more useful.

My bed.  Apparently the mattress is built in, and the bottom sheet (flat) is not tucked in, but just laid over.  There is a slipcover for the summer-weight quilt, which makes things easier.  The pillowcases are designed for both appearance and use.

My clothing storage.  This is before I bought a few hangers.

This is what the wall outlets look like.  The multiple shapes accept Chinese, American, even Korean  plugs.  (Some plugs wired for a specific appliance have only the lower three-hole grouping shown here.)

This gang of switches controls the bathroom fan, the sink light, the bathroom light, and the water heater.  Trial and error will tell you which one.

This is my only sink.  It does have a good mirror, and it is big enough to wash my small pots and pans, although it's a bit hard to rinse the cutting board.  (To the right is the door to the bathroom.)

While unpacking, I found this NOI inside my smaller bag.  TSA apparently saw something on the X-ray that made them suspicious.  It must have been the knitting needles.

Since I woke up early, I had plenty of time to kill before my promised ride.  I needed some Chinese money, and someone had mentioned a bank across the street from my apartment.  So, I walked around to the front of the apartment, and this is what I saw: 

Dogs sleeping unmolested between the motorbikes.  I never found out who (if anyone) they belong to, but they're not dangerous.

There are a lot of motorbikes here.  Mostly e-bikes, but some gas-powered motorcycles too.

A local police patrol station, and a pile of trash.  (Note:  this is not the police station where I went to register my residence.)

This same notice was posted on two different signs.
(The phrase "Lost in Translation" comes to mind.)

And here, on the street-facing side of my apartment complex, is a China Merchants Bank.  (The "24" indicates 24-7 access to the ATM.)

This bank was open on Saturday, so I went in, and was able to exchange some dollars for Chinese yuan.  Later, I was advised to use Bank of China, of which there are two branches in my neighborhood, one open on Saturday, the other open on Sunday.  Not sure why, about anything.  There seem to be lot of banks in my neighborhood.  Not sure why that is, either.

When I was picked up by the driver and another teacher (this time with a toddler in tow), they offered to take me to the bank.  I explained that I'd already changed my money; so, we went to the police station.  On the way there I saw several things I'd never seen before, like three people riding one motorbike, but the only decent shot I managed to get was this one.

A Trike-Mounted Street Sweeper

Apparently the Chinese government employs these people to ride a trike to their assigned stretch of street or sidewalk, and sweep it.  I can't imagine how filthy the city would be if they didn't.

Here's what the police station looked like:

Chinese Police Station

I didn't have to go in, but I did.  The Chinese teacher handled the entire transaction.  And here's something I tried to get a picture of earlier, but couldn't:

Tricycle Pickup

Apparently, if you have a moderate amount of cargo to haul in China, this is what you get.  Enclosed-cab four-wheel pickups are very rare here (I've seen one), and most small-cargo appears to be hauled with vehicles like this.  There are smaller electric versions as well.  They have large trucks for heavy hauling, of course.

After the police station, we went to the school.  The driver took us to his office, which apparently is shared by the custodial staff.  He apparently keeps birds:

Don't know what to say about that.  I got the tour of the school, what they could show me, since most of the doors were locked.  We were met by Jane, and then we went out to eat.  Food was good, but I can't tell you what most of it was, or show you pictures.  I can report that most dishes were served with personal chopsticks out of the communal bowls, with the exception of soups and rice dishes.  I can also report that Jane complemented my chopstick skills, which I knew would be useful here.

After lunch, the teacher with the toddler (who apparently had no alternative childcare) took me shopping at a place called Carrefour, in a large four-level shopping mall.  Carrefour is a hypermart, which apparently is like Home Plus in Korea.  That is, it has multiple levels, one of which was like Target, another was like a supermarket.  Specially designed escalators and shopping-cart wheels allowed you to take your cart between levels efficiently.  There, I got some essentials like laundry detergent, rice, oats, and a few vegetables.  (I also got sugar, salt, peanut oil, and soy sauce, but passed on the MSG.)  The school bought a rice cooker for me, and I headed back to the apartment.  With leftovers and my microwave, I had a decent meal, but it was hard to stay awake until a normal bedtime, so I went to bed early.

Prayer Requests

First of all, praise God for a safe and NV-free trip!  Also, praise God for a mostly uneventful passage through inspections, customs, and residence registration.

One of my biggest concerns is money; that is, having enough to live on until my first paycheck.  My first trip to Carrefour cost over 200 yuan.  Please pray that I will be able to stretch my meagre funds until payday without resorting to extreme measures.

That's all for today.  More later about my explorations, settling in, and, of course, the teaching.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying.

Broadcasting from Wuxi

Just a note to let you know I'm alive.  WiFi is hard to get here without a Chinese mobile phone, so I'm slipping in a quick note on a school break.  More when I get a chance.  Please pray for my sanity.  Blessings.

Notes from Seattle

Well, I'm back in Seattle, but not for long.  Enjoying a typically grey, overcast day here in the Emerald City. The overcast sky is casting a nice, uniform glare on my computer screen, which makes blogging a challenge.

Check-in at SFO went very smoothly, although I had more trouble at security than I expected.  They wanted me to remove my (cloth and plastic) belt, and also submit my wallet for examination.  I miss the days when all you had to do was walk through a metal detector without setting it off, and maybe let your bags be sniffed by an explosive detector. *BEGIN SARCASM*  I guess if one known radical tries to put explosives in his underwear, everyone has to have their underwear examined.  *END SARCASM*

On a different note, I was pleasantly surprised to see a men's college rowing team travelling on my flight.  I greeted them and asked where they were from.  Turns out they were the Stanford Men's Crew team.  We exchanged pleasantries, and I was pleased to have one of the oarsmen in my row, with an empty seat between us.  The interaction was brief but pleasant.

Here in Seattle, I found my gate and gave them my passport, work permit, and letter of invitation so they could change my boarding pass for a new one.  Then, after a brief pit stop, I decided to find out if I needed to buy a meal before my flight.  Going back to the gate, I noticed the DHL envelope that held all my documents, still at the counter, sitting on the lower ledge where the ticket agents couldn't see it!  I quickly reclaimed my documents, spoke with the agents, and found out that the meal service included two meals, with a choice of Korean or American food for each.  That was just what I wanted to hear.

In other news, I was able to finish a swatch of my special, discontinued, California-grown, naturally black alpaca yarn.

This yarn was purchased specially for my trip, to enjoy on the long flight.  If you're not at all interested in yarn or knitting, you may want to skip the next paragraph and go straight to the prayer requests.

The yarn is a three-ply, I'd call it a light worsted weight.  It seems a little underplied, because even my blunt bamboo needles could easily split between the plies if I wasn't careful.  However, it does appear to be knitting up at about 4.5 stitches/inch, which is what I was hoping for.  I would like a slightly denser fabric, but I can't go down a needle size because I don't have size 5 circulars in 16" length, which is what I would need to do the ribbing if the body went down from a size 8 (as shown in the swatch) to a size 7.  Whatever the result, I still love working with this yarn.  It slides through my fingers very nicely.  I won't even complain about the VM (vegetable matter), which is present but not excessive or difficult to remove.

Well, it's almost time to board, so I'd better wrap it up.  Please pray for a safe flight.  Thanks.